Monday, September 30, 2024

🎶 Why Can’t The Women/Be More Like Me?🎶

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Armchair Quarterbacks

Making giant straws to suck all the water out of western NC. And life size replacements of every building in Voldosta, ready to air drop in. In fact, the entire country would be fully recovered by now, as if it never even happened.

Like Trump did in Puerto Rico. Or North Carolina.
Please give generously. FoxNews assures me this is all AI and fake news.

(No word from Gov. DeSantis.)
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Dropping In Uninvited

Or, Takes One To Know One:
During Trump’s term as president, he visited numerous disaster zones, including the aftermaths of hurricanes, tornados and shootings. But the trips sometimes elicited controversy such as when he tossed paper towels to cheering residents in Puerto Rico in 2017 in the wake of Hurricane Maria. 
It also wasn’t until years later, just weeks before the 2020 presidential election, that Trump’s administration released $13 billion in assistance for the territory. A federal government watchdog found that officials hampered an investigation into delays in aid delivery.
Reporter: Trump has accused you of ignoring— Biden: He's lying and the governor told him he was lying. I've spoken to the governor.. I don't know why he does this and the reason I get so angry about it, I don't care about what he says about me, but I care what he communicates to the people that are in need. He implies that we're not doing everything possible. We are. I assume you heard the Republican Governor of Georgia talk about that. He was on the phone with me more than once. So that's simply not true. And it's irresponsible.
Coda:
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The 👿 Went Down To Georgia

Worse, he’s reading all of this in a monotone. In all the videos.

Hurricane season runs from June 1 to November 30. The heat in the ocean begins to build in June. Most storms come in August (Harvey, Katrina, Rita, that I remember) and September. Hurricane Nicole walked across Florida in November, 2022.

This season was predicted based on ocean heating and, of course, global warming. There are as many as three storms forming and predicted right now. This is the peak of the season, not the past due date.

Is he trying to say this wouldn’t have happened if he was POTUS? This is why Biden and Harris are in DC. It was also Trump’s excuse for not going to NC. But he can disrupt Valdosta.
Just what Valdosta needs: bromides read off prepared remarks, and a prayer for Trump’s electoral victory. 🤮 Maybe Graham could pray for Trump to stop lying.🤥 
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The “I’m Rubber, You’re Glue” Tour Continues

Meeting with all those bozos will help people with destroyed houses, downed trees, and no power. Maybe he’ll offer them the chance to get in on the ground floor on his new crypto while he’s there.
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In Advance Of The VP Debate

Just let JD talk. No special goading needed.
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Well, Let’s See

 A) ew posts Trump’s St. Michael imagery, says it “stokes” Trump’s “nut job” followers. Well, maybe those steeped in European Catholic iconography (he did use the Virgin of Guadalupe earlier), but not his evangelical diehards. I still think they find that disturbing, if not outright disqualifying. We’ll see.

She goes on to point out Harris put Republicans on the podium at the convention, but not Palestinians, and argues that’s hurting Harris in Michigan. Although putting Palestinians in prime time in Chicago would have hurt Harris everywhere in America NOT Michigan.

And the case before Chutkan is going to save us all (except the felony conviction didn’t sink Trump; nor the fraud conviction; nor the two libel judgments; at least didn’t sink him in the polls) because a superseding indictment due soon will FINALLY be the silver bullet. Pro tip: don’t hold your breath.

This is my favorite. In the context of Harris not walking away with the race (although almost all polling says she’s ahead, and Biden won with about 52% of the popular vote; still, too much is never enough), she cites Nate Silver:

Donald Trump looks weak and Donald Trump looks violent, but that is not yet a persistent news coverage theme (indeed, in his polling update, Nate Silver claims there’s nothing “like Joe Biden’s deteriorating public performances” that might be affecting the race in ways polling is not accounting for).
Nate Silver, who hasn’t gotten anything right since 2012 (to be fair to his models: Garbage In, Garbage Out; polls suck). ew again leans on “press coverage” to be the vessel to convince Mr. and Mrs. America and all the ships at sea that Trump is unfit (nobody expects the NYT endorsement of Harris to do that, even though they stomp Trump into the dirt in the process). The magical powers of cable TV (is that still a thing?) or newspaper headlines (are those still around?) will carry the day.

For people terminally on line, they sure think legacy media is still the only source of voter information. Apart from Elmo’s Twitter feed, of course. I really think more people get their news on line than not. And “low information” voters ain’t gonna be reading a new Trump indictment like it was the latest bodice ripper.

Besides: polls still suck. This is a “vibes” election; and Trump has all the wrong vibes. Frankly, we should be pointing out that SNL is making Trump look too sane, because IRL he’s gone beyond parody. But if you played him just as he is, he’d be frightening, not funny. I think a lot of people already know that.

Back to St. Michael:
When Donald Trump mobilizes Christian imagery, he does so not because he believes in any of it, but because he believes in power, and he knows he can get people who mistake him for the Messiah to go to war for him.
St. Michael subduing the devil in full Renaissance splendor (or is that Baroque? Yeah, probably the latter…) ain’t “Christian” among American evangelicals. You gotta keep in mind these are the spiritual descendants of the Puritans who thought Christmas was too Catholic, and wouldn’t allow even the word to be spoken. I can’t overstate how much that image doesn’t appeal to them. “Christian” is not the unitary term you might imagine it to be.

And then there’s alternative history:
The floods caused by Helene could be another. Right wingers are already trying to ensure this works like Katrina did for George W Bush.
Huh? When “Katrina” comes up in political discussions, it refers to Napoleon’s Waterloo, not the Duke of Wellington’s.
Tomorrow marks two key events: a Vice Presidential debate that may prove more momentous than prior debates (and JD is much more resilient to goading than his boss is), and Jimmy Carter’s 100th birthday, one day closer to the day he can vote for Kamala Harris.
When does early voting start in Georgia? And Vance is Trump without the guardrails. He doesn’t need to meltdown. He just needs to speak.
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😵

Given the scale of suffering and tragedy and devastation left in the wake of Helene (pictures from Asheville call to mind Houston under Harvey.  What is it about “H” hurricanes?), fretting about how this affects voting is…quite the take.

Forest, trees; maybe some other, more apt aphorism. Really need to straighten out our priorities here.
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“Trump Discusses Judicial Reform”—Bloomberg

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Sunday, September 29, 2024

Evangelicals Will Apparently Forgive A Lot

At least in the name of achieving power. What I’m not sure about is if they’ll forgive something so plainly “Papist.”

I use the term advisedly. I find it offensive, but it captures the animosity of conservative evangelicals for Roman Catholicism. Evangelicals may make common cause with Catholics over abortion, but that, too, is the pursuit of power. The Catholics are never allies, just at most partners of convenience. Being anti-Catholic is still almost a source of identity for evangelicals. So quoting papal prayers and appealing to saints for intercession, complete with iconography (I’m sure Trump has no real idea what he’s doing), may well be a bridge too far.

Interesting choice by him anyway. Maybe he thinks it wins the Catholics over. But I don’t think the evangelicals will be too comfortable with it. Especially if he repeats it.
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FEMA Isn’t Coming

Not with emergency hand counted paper ballots, anyway.

Elections are conducted by the states, not the federal government. Yes, there is a federal election scheduled. But Georgia is responsible for how it’s carried out in Georgia. So any concerns about the effect of the hurricane on voting should be directed to the Georgia Secretary of State, Mr. Raffensperger.

Honestly, the knee jerk stupidity and willingness to bare your ignorance so brazenly in public is the part of the internet I’ll never get used to.
Oh, I’ll be laughing for days and days. 😹
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“Jesus Gets Us”

I’m watching the Texans play terrible football against the worst team in the NFL (if they pull this out, it’ll still be ugly*), and one of those “Jesus Gets Us” ads comes on. Now I don’t dislike this campaign. It doesn’t offend my delicate sensibilities, or anything. I considered whether I had a theological objection; and I do.

But it’s really an ecclesiological objection.

“Jesus gets us” is not objectionable. But it puts all the onus on Jesus. Now, I believe in Jesus. I’m an ordained Christian minister. But I’ve never met Jesus. I’ve only met his followers, his adherents, his disciples (ideally). And if they don’t get me, I don’t care what Jesus “gets.”

Words are cheap. Actions have meaning. Actions are hard.

I know there’s a problem in Protestantism of a “cult of personality” around the pastor. It’s not the same in the Catholic Church (and less so among Episcopalians, who are largely “Catholic lite”). I attended a Catholic funeral recently, and the homily was downright excruciating. The family had asked the priest to return to their parish church to memorialize their father. And his homily was largely about how he (the priest) had built that church. Meaning literally, as in the building.

I was professionally appalled, to be honest. The Catholics around me took it in stride. Their connection was less to the priest than to the Church, and they accepted this priest as he was, anyway. A man whose life was devoted to the Church, because he had nothing else to devote it to. Don’t get me wrong: the life of a priest or a pastor is inherently a lonely one (especially if, as a Protestant, you don’t have the full support of the power brokers in your congregation). I remember talking to a Catholic in training for the priesthood thinking a family was just an impediment to holy orders, because it was hard to uproot them and move as the denomination required. He wasn’t wrong (and that’s part of why it’s a lonely calling). But listening to that priest that day, I realized Rome hadn’t solved that problem, either.

Church, in other words, is the people. It’s not just, or primarily, Jesus. If you don’t find Jesus there, or at least followers of Jesus, it doesn’t matter what Jesus “gets.” Because you won’t get it.

I’ve been a part of several congregations in my life, before, during, and after seminary. The good ones didn’t have to tell me “Jesus gets you.” I knew that from them (and I don’t mean they were uniformly spiritually or theologically sound. I mean, rather bluntly, that they weren’t all baptized heathens (some always are.) Sometimes they baptized heathens are the reason  to be there; as long as they’re a numerical minority). I mean they were dominated by good people trying to be good to each other, and do some good in the name of Jesus. If Jesus “gets you,” it’s because his followers get you. Even Jesus said so:

“Whatever you did for the least of these, you did for me.”

The problem with the ad campaign is that, ultimately, it’s selling salvation. So I guess my problem with it is soteriological, too. According to the more reductive siteriologies, salvation requires a personal relationship with Jesus. I still remember when a young girl (I was her age at the time) asked me if I had accepted Jesus “into my heart.” Not, did I believe; that was a given. But was Jesus allowed into my heart? I told her quite reasonably that I didn’t think there was room in the left or right ventricle for Jesus. I’m pretty sure she marked me down as damned, and moved on.

Granted, she wasn’t explaining that Jesus “got” me. She was really asking, did I “get” Jesus. But either way you point the issue, the question is the same: “Are you saved?” And back when I still believed in the soteriology of that kind of “salvation” I always answered: “I certainly hope so!”

Yeah, I was kind of a dick.

So: does Jesus get us? It’s a better theology than the “Jesus loves me, but he can’t stand you” theology I grew up around (speaking of “baptized heathens”). I like the idea that Jesus accepts us (I mean, I grew up on the Westminster catechism that “all have sinned and fallen short of the glory of God.” So, you know, Jesus has to accept us. We’re not worthy ab initio. Yeah, that’s part of that soteriology I discarded.). But what kind of sales pitch is that?  It’s an ad campaign, so what is it selling?

Comfort, basically. Nothing wrong with comfort, mind. But then Jesus shows up and calls you to follow, and you say “But I have to bury my mother,” and Jesus says: “Leave the dead to bury the dead. You go and proclaim the basileia tou theou.” Or Jesus tells you the story of the Wonderful Father, and you realize the father gave his younger son what he asked for, and when it was squandered and the son returned the father used the older son’s wealth (the father having given it all away to his sons) to throw a fete to celebrate the prodigal’s return. And when the older son (quite reasonably) objects, the father says “Your brother, my son, was dead. Now he’s alive!” And do you stand on your pride, like a dick? Or do you welcome your lost brother back to life?

I’ve lost my brother. I’d gladly welcome him back to life. But how do you not ask yourself: “How is the basileia tou theou like that?”

And maybe you start thinking that Jesus may get you, but do you get Jesus?

It’s a two-way street, you know.


*The Texans won in pretty much the manner the Chiefs did: by one touchdown, in the last quarter (last seconds, for Houston). The team that wins gets to the playoffs, so long as they keep doing so. Anyway…

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This Is Where I Came In*

And they left anyway. 


 *A sentiment that really only makes sense to elderly Boomers like your humble host. Deal with it. Or ask yer Grandpa!👴🏻 Punks.
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The View From (White) South Africa

I found the longer version, so in the spirit of fairness.
Very few Americans realize that, if Trump is NOT elected, this will be the last election. Far from being a threat to democracy, he is the only way to save it! 
Let me explain: if even 1 in 20 illegals become citizens per year, something that the Democrats are expediting as fast as humanly possible, that would be about 2 million new legal voters in 4 years. 
The voting margin in the swing states is often less than 20 thousand votes. That means if the “Democratic” Party succeeds, there will be no more swing states!! 
Moreover, the Biden/Harris administration has been flying “asylum seekers”, who are fast-tracked to citizenship, directly into swing states like Pennsylvania, Ohio, Wisconsin and Arizona. It is a surefire way to win every election. 
America then becomes a one-party state and Democracy is over. The only “elections” will be the Democratic Party primaries. This already happened in California many years ago, following the 1986 amnesty. 
The only thing holding California back from extreme socialism and suffocating government policies is that people can leave California and still remain in America. Once the whole country is controlled by one party, there will be no escape. 
Everywhere in America will be like the nightmare that is downtown San Francisco.
First, there’s the assumption that “illegal aliens” are all non-whites. But the truth is, the majority of “illegal aliens” in the country are Europeans (white! Well, they are now) who’ve over-stayed their visas. So Elmo is racist from the get go.

I know, big surprise.

And, of course, if they become citizens (which, as I understand the law, they can’t even apply for without returning to their home country and applying for legal entry, after some passage of time. IOW, Elmo’s argument is on par with the people who say immigrants are coming here to get “free stuff.” Sure, I’d walk from Venezuela to El Paso just for “free stuff.”), in gratitude they’ll all vote for Democrats and then…replace all white, God-fearing Republicans.

Yeah, it’s not any better than that, actually.

Does he think Harris is going to “fast track” asylum seekers to citizenship before November? And get them registered to vote by then? Has he any clue how voter registration works in all those states he mentioned?

No, of course not.

I do love how the amnesty in ‘86 led to the takeover of California by non-white people. Both Texas (where Elmo enjoys ruining the lives of people in south Texas as he takes over more and more property for his toy rockets. Proof that government does do some things better.) and California have been home to non-white populations since before they were states, and that fact enriches the culture of both states (to begin with). Frankly, Elmo is such a blatant racist he might as well wear a white hood.

Or be from South Africa.
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Leaving The Commentary To Others Today

Because honestly, he’s just getting worse. Which I wouldn’t have thought was possible. It’s on appeal to the 11th Circuit. If the dismissal is upheld and appeals are exhausted, it can be filed again (no double jeopardy; it never went to a jury). Somebody’s gonna have to explain that to him, eventually. No. To them, it’s a football game, not a plebiscite. And the rest of us thank the lords and the low creatures that it’s not a plebiscite. Lock him up? Maybe it is a plebiscite, after all. We don’ need no steenkin’ education!” (Trump loves the poorly educated. He gets them!) Shouting the quiet parts out loud. "A Happy Meal in every pot!”
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The Voice From The Sandbox

If I gave a shit what he thinks: I’d want to ask Elmo just what the fuck he thinks he’s talking about.

Other than trying to turn Trump’s statements into something said by the Democrats. But that’s JD’s job; and Elmo’s not as good at it as JD is.

Which tells you how bad Elmo is at playing politics.
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Basically, Polling Sucks

The fact is, a lot of this discussion of polling is inside baseball stuff.

Young, white, blue collar voters don’t give a shit. Polling isn’t driving them to the ballot box.🗳️  Black and Hispanic voters aren’t presumably turned off by poll numbers. Nobody thinks the elderly (Hello!) will stay home because the NYT/Siena poll showed a wild swing in Wisconsin.

As Chavez reasonably points out (in his Twitter thread), campaigns need good polling data to help determine how to allocate resources. One reason the DSC is spending money in Texas is because Allred is polling so well. Even Beto couldn’t get that kind of help. But for the rest of us? Who gives a 💩?

Polls are useless. They’re either badly conducted, badly interpreted, or just bad information. Nate Silver hasn’t correctly interpreted the polls since 2012. When Trump won in 2016, he’d said Hillary had a 72% chance of winning. He defended his prediction by pointing out that still meant Trump had a 28% chance of winning, so Silver wasn’t wrong.😑 

And he hasn’t been wrong since; just useless. All polls are. Candidates can use them; the rest of us should discard them. Polls don’t win elections: votes do.*

(*Arguably Trump won in 2016 because people didn’t want to vote for Hillary, and expected her to win without their vote. Whereas if they’d ignored the polls, our national nightmare might never have started. Polls don’t win elections. Votes do.)
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🦇💩🤪 🫨

I thought this was the craziest thing I would see today.
"So tell me Why are you here to support President Trump?" Santio asked. 
"I am the adopted daughter of President Trump," the woman replied. "I am Rosa Kowalski." 
"Yes, and I am his vice president," she added. 
"Okay, okay," a shocked Santio replied. "Oh, Well, I wish you good luck in this election, then."

 I was wrong.😑 

Don’t worry guys, weather modification isn’t real! It’s just a coincidence that Hurricane Helene is one of the most devastating “inland damage storms” in history and that hundreds of pro-Trump counties are being massively impacted during the most important election of our lifetimes. 
Obviously the elites would never be evil enough to create hurricanes designed to interfere with “democracy”… Pay no attention to the storms currently brewing in the Atlantic either! You can ask any mainstream scientist and they will tell you that it isn’t even possible to create those or target them at certain areas. 
Just stay silent. No need to vote or expose anything. You wouldn't want to be called a conspiracy theorist right? Couldn’t have that. So please ignore your own eyes and don’t share this post or investigate further.
The last clause of that last sentence is actually very good advice. The rest of it? Somehow “batshit crazy” just doesn’t do it justice.
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To Cut To The Chase

Trump's rant about “criminals” coming into the country under Biden is a lie.
A spokesperson for the Department of Homeland Security, which oversees ICE, said in a Saturday email: “The data in this letter is being misinterpreted. The data goes back decades; it includes individuals who entered the country over the past 40 years or more, the vast majority of whose custody determination was made long before this Administration. It also includes many who are under the jurisdiction or currently incarcerated by federal, state or local law enforcement partners.”
ICE lists immigrants it is not holding (including those in jail, state or federal) as “non-detained.” That doesn’t mean they are roaming the streets “criming,” it means ICE doesn’t have them in ICE custody.

You could say Trump is misrepresenting that for political purposes. But it’s clear by now Trump is too ignorant to understand what the government is reporting. Which, again, makes him unfit for office.

According to Bloomberg, this is how Trump is “challenging” Harris on the issue of the border. God forbid they report the actual facts. That wouldn’t be “objective.” 🐎 
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🍟

GOP lawyers have filed three times as many suits challenging election practices in “battleground” states as they did by this time in 2020. One problem, though.
The one thing they need in court is evidence,” Cobb explained. “They didn’t have any last time, and they’re unlikely to have any this time.” 
The Times report adds, "Election experts, including some Republicans, say a vast majority of the cases are destined to fail, either because they were filed too late or because they are based on unfounded, or outright false, claims."
And Ken Paxton’s attempts to attack voter outreach groups has run into a roadblock: The judge ruled the new Texas law Paxton has been using is “unconstitutionally vague” and restrictive of free speech. Which frees up a lot of private groups to register voters and help them exercise their franchise. Something Paxton and the Lege didn’t want non-white voters to do. Yes, Hispanics in Texas are trending Republican, but you can’t be too careful.

Now we can go back to worrying about post-election violence. Which I don’t think a non-incumbent Trump will have the ability to drum up. Nor the organizational skills, or even interest, to do so, based on recent public appearances. I mean, face it, the man’s a full pack of French fries short of a Happy Meal. 🍽️ 
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What The Actual FUCK!!??!!

“He sharpened his criticism on border security"? Was that here? Or here? Here, maybe? Or this time? This could be it, surely. That’s two for one; must be at least one of them. Wait, here’s two more: No? Yes? Maybe? Gotta be that one, right? Still no? Well, that’s about all I’ve got left. Maybe you attended a different Trump rally on Saturday. 🤷🏻‍♂️ 
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Saturday Night’s Alright

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Saturday, September 28, 2024

When You Want To Throw Your 💸 Away

Just as natural beauty can’t really be captured in a photograph, the ugliness of this thing has to be seen in real life to be comprehended.

And even then, the mind reels…
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What’s Going On Is Deeply Connected To…What’s Going On

Too dark to see what he’s saying. Inarticulate, too. CMS Newsroom:
Cost sharing will continue to be capped at $35 for covered insulins and $0 for Part D recommended adult vaccines. Since 2023, people with Medicare Part D coverage have paid no more than $35 for a month’s supply of each covered insulin product.
Who was President in 2023? Because: Yale Law. Best-selling author. Silicon Valley maven. And still talks like the racist head of the ticket who isn’t married to an immigrant. Even though they both are. And the people they inspire.
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Here We Go Again (Non-repetitive edition)

Only new stuff here! 😸 In 1927. I remember it like it was just yesterday. (What has Trump accomplished to compare with Lindbergh? Promoting isolationism? Actually, Trump promotes emulating our enemies, so…) He’s just warming up… "I’m rubber and you’re glue/everything you say bounces off me and sticks to you!” (It’s more fitting than talking about “projection.” He’s honestly not that sophisticated.) Responsibility is always on somebody else. Feet tangled again in his own projection (sometimes you can’t avoid it). And if he keeps talking about working in a McDonald’s, he never has to do it.

But he keeps his weird obsession alive.
And yet you keep falling into them. 🤔 "I AM MY VENGEANCE!” Okay, I lied. He is repeating himself. MK Ultra? Or some gun nobody’s ever heard of?

Does he even know what “MK” stands for?
Bonus! Repeats himself in the same speech (on two points!) and projects like a cineplex (yeah, I give up. 📽️) Well, certainly the ones whose mental capacity filled up in the ‘80’s. "Free speech for me, but not for thee!” And they all get sex change operations! And are forced to sit under UV lamps! (Just think about it.) Lord of the flies. No, not the novel; the reason it’s the title of the novel. Now you’re getting it. Replacement! Drink! (Because he’s repeating himself.) He must be reading Kamala’s campaign tweets: And...um... Nobody trips up Trump like Trump trips up Trump! Where's Tiffany? Where’s Barron? Where’s Marla? Where’s Melania (when she’s not shilling something)? I’d love to hear from them. Now I need some brain bleach. Drink! (If only to blot out that last mental image!) He can only last 60 minutes. Sad! 😢 

Oh, well; maybe people were leaving early…

(Full disclosure: Trump ranted a lot about immigrants and the dangers they pose. Same old stuff, louder and nastier.
See? If you read Aaron’s posts alongside Acyn’s, you can’t help but agree. Trump is evil. And Trump is mad.)
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Twitter Is Free

Really need to have a discussion about what “Christian Nationalism” means.

I grew up in the South, I’ve heard people casually use “Bless” in everyday conversation (and contrary to the stereotypes, “bless your heart” is not always meant as a slap; I didn’t learn that usage until I was an adult. When you wanted to be pointed, you didn’t hide it. That’s when you pulled out “bless his pointed little head.” The misinterpretation is just a sign of people who don’t understand Southern. At. All.). I can’t do it (use “blessed” casually ) and it often rubs me the wrong way. But calling it cultural hegemony?
Opinions are like…well, you know.

Bless your heart.


Most of the Baptists 'round here regard that particular usage of 'blessed' as a Wiccan incantation.
Yeah, I grew up among the Southern Baptists, but not with that phrase. Maybe that’s why it bothers me so. Even the Baptists would be bothered by it. Too much moving of cheese.
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The “Vibes” Election

Trump brought nothing but empty words and failed policies. Some people (they can’t all be bots 🤖), believe what Trump said because…Trump said it.

Same as it ever was.

The problem for Trump is, those people are in the minority.
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“Vacuous” Is Not A Term To Throw About

Hewitt: "What's your priority among our nuclear triad?" 
Trump: "Well, first of all, I think we need somebody absolutely that we can trust, who is totally responsible; who really knows what he or she is doing. That is so powerful and so important. And one of the things that I'm frankly most proud of is that in 2003, 2004, I was totally against going into Iraq because you're going to destabilize the Middle East. I called it. I called it very strongly. And it was very important. 
"But we have to be extremely vigilant and extremely careful when it comes to nuclear. Nuclear changes the whole ball game. Frankly, I would have said get out of Syria; get out -- if we didn't have the power of weaponry today. The power is so massive that we can't just leave areas that 50 years ago or 75 years ago we wouldn't care. It was hand-to-hand combat. 
"The biggest problem this world has today is not President Obama with global warming, which is inconceivable, this is what he's saying. The biggest problem we have is nuclear -- nuclear proliferation and having some maniac, having some madman go out and get a nuclear weapon. That's in my opinion, that is the single biggest problem that our country faces right now. 
Hewitt: "Of the three legs of the triad, though, do you have a priority? I want to go to Senator Rubio after that and ask him." 
Trump: "I think -- I think, for me, nuclear is just the power, the devastation is very important to me." 
Hewitt: "Senator Rubio, do you have a response?"
I’ll be fair; here’s the text of Hewitt’s tweet:
Since Joe Biden’s abdication, @VP Harris has given 6 interviews: To Dana Bash, Brian Taff, Stephanie “Chiquibaby” Himonidis, a panel of NABJ members —Eugene Daniels, Tonya Mosley and Gerren Keith Gaynor— Oprah, and Stephanie Ruhle. 
The most often used term to describe the VP’s interviews is “vacuous.” The Oxford Dictionary defines “vacuous” as “having or showing a lack of thought or intelligence; mindless.” Be your own judge of her capacity to think and lead, but it seems clear that voting for the VP (and voting is underway in many states) is to will the decline and indeed the eclipse of the U.S. as a superpower and master of its own destiny. Some people want that. Others are ignorant of the stakes. 
We know that former President Trump intends the U.S. to thrive and that his policies will return the country to its pre-Covid economic growth and military strength. I don’t know how anyone who (1) isn’t counting on a job in the Harris administration or (2) having “access” to that list of 3,000 San Francisco leftists who will make up Team Harris or (3) who isn’t themselves “vacuous,” votes for Harris. Even the voters who loathe the former president must understand that four years of a Harris presidency means the country lurches into the chaos that defines the streets of San Francisco and the economic ruin of the businesses adjacent to such policies. 
Finally, as Trump’s first term unfolded, the world’s evil men became very hesitant to kill or even threaten harm to Americans. Trump was himself a deterrent to the most brutal regimes. Harris will be a bright green light to the worst of the worst. 
Vote accordingly.
And the likely inspiration for all this: Point made.
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Keeping The Conversation Going

One conversation:
Let's find out what would happen if a Supreme was indicted, tried and convicted and insisted on remaining on the Corrupt Court. It's kind of stunning how much of the half-baked stuff in the Constitution has been thoroughly finished into complete Republican-partisan corruption through the very badly set up and trusted Supreme Court. People talk about Dred Scott but they were doing stuff almost as bad during every Court session before and many after the Civil War was fought and over and the Roberts Court is the most corrupt since the turn of the 20th century. Even the Rehnquist Court that issued Bush v Gore hasn't outdone it in Republican-partisan corruption. I heard an interview with an author who has said unless we get rid of the Electoral College the country fracturing or an outright civil war is inevitable, I think the same is true of a failure to drastically alter and reign in the Supreme Court. Jefferson foresaw the consequences of that during the Marshall Court.?
My only quibble would be that the deadline in Bush v Gore was set by the Electoral Count Act. However, citing just Trump v U.S. (examples are legion, but to choose just one), the doctrine established there, and the rules of evidence invented to enact it, are made up out of whole cloth.

On the scale of corruption, the Roberts court wins (without considering Thomas and Alito).


Haven 't been able to get in touch with my Florida and Tennessee cousins yet. Always nervous when they get a bad one. Trump is pathologically uncaring and cruel. Something I think is generally true of anyone who has remained in the Republican-fascist party. A shockingly high percentage of the population, a dangerously high percentage.
I truly believe there is a “silent majority” (the irony of leaning on a Nixonian phrase burns!🥵) that is about to throw the radicals out. I prefer to use the term “radicals” in a positive sense, but the root these crazies go to is a poisoned one.  It’s an enduring root of American history, but that doesn’t mean it can’t, or shouldn’t, be uprooted and extirpated. In that sense I am a “radical.”

But I’ll be happy to see the worst of American culture repudiated again.
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Keep Noticing

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Democracy Inaction

Polling results released Wednesday, less than six weeks away from November's Election Day, show that a majority of Americans want to ditch the Electoral College and "would instead prefer to see the winner of the presidential election be the person who wins the most votes nationally." 
Pew Research Center surveyed 9,720 adults across the United States in late August and early September, and found that 63% want to abolish the process outlined in the U.S. Constitution and replace it with a popular vote approach, compared with just 35% who favor keeping the current system.
Don’t get excited.
"Reference sources indicate that over the past 200 years more than 700 proposals have been introduced in Congress to reform or eliminate the Electoral College," according to the National Archives. "There have been more proposals for Constitutional amendments on changing the Electoral College than on any other subject."
Same as it ever was.
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Rain, Rain, Go Away…

 For example: Or the one that earned the longest community note in Twitter history: Sorry, had to screenshot it. Pretty sure Elmo removed the note this morning. It was on the original yesterday. Here’s a legible view of the original post: Trump not only doesn’t answer the question, he talks about himself, and repeats an ancient whopper.

But no George Clooney equivalent Republicans are questioning Trump’s fitness (and any Republicans who are, it’s “old news”), so… nothing (new) to see here.

Steve Bannon doesn’t have to “flood the zone with shit.” The system does that itself; and calls it rainwater, to boot.
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Constitutional Scholarship On Twitter

Nope.
While the U.S. Constitution grants to Congress the power to levy tariffs on goods, Congress has delegated some of that power to the Executive Branch over time. The U.S. Constitution states in Article I, Section 8 that “The Congress shall have the Power to lay and collect Taxes, Duties, Imposts and Excises.” Congress passed general tariff legislation until the early 1930s. However, in a move to grant more flexibility to the President to revitalize global trade in the midst of the Great Depression, Congress gave the Executive Branch the power to negotiate tariff reductions within levels pre-approved by Congress through the Reciprocal Trade Agreement Act of 1934. President Franklin D. Roosevelt became the first President to have the authority to levy tariffs and negotiate bilateral trade agreements without the approval of Congress. 
The Executive Branch has continued to exercise a level of authority over tariffs over the past few decades. In 1962 President Kennedy signed into law the Trade Expansion Act, which allows the President to adjust tariffs based on threats to national security under section 232.3 This is the authority under which President Trump imposed tariffs on steel and aluminum, which have a vast impact on some of the United States’ biggest trading partners and many U.S. industries. Since the beginning of the year, there have been bipartisan efforts in Congress to try to regain some of the power that was delegated to the Executive branch to regulate trade.
There it is. Trump did learn something after 4 years in office. But as usual, he learned the wrong lesson.

Congress has the power. Congress can take it back. That article appears to date from 2018, and even then even Chuck Grassley supported limiting Trump’s power to impose tariffs. I don’t know if it got anywhere, but 20% tariffs across the board would probably get a veto proof reversal in place very quickly.

Not quickly enough, of course. Better to avoid the problem altogether.
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🌀 Connecting The Dots

NOAA “is one of the main drivers of the climate change alarm industry, and, as such, is harmful to future U.S. prosperity.”

Yes, I’m sure. Even more harmful than 52 deaths, washed out roads, and widespread flooding.

Reality is such a bitch. Can’t we just suppress it the way Trump does?
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I’m Just Sayin’…

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